No Word for 'Love' in Klingon
by disquisitivemind
Summary: Peter likes to watch 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'. He likes to think that he is Spike to Adrian's Buffy, except it ends up being more along the lines of Druscilla to Adrian's Spike, and he doesn't like to think about that. Meanwhile, Adrian sees Wesley and falls a little in love, and actually starts wearing suits, and convinces Peter to start wearing leather.
1. Chapter 1

AN: Adrian Harris was born in 1978, Peter in '77, making them 16 and 17 respectively in 1994, where they are Juniors in high-school. This makes them 34 and 35 in 2011. Assuming Derek is 23 in 2011, he would've been born in 1989, making him 5 in 1994.

All of those dates are not canon, I made them up to suit my purposes. Read and Review if you think that it's worth one.

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November, 1994

Adrian slumped down in his seat, taking care not to stretch his legs too far less they brush up against the kid sitting in front of him. He tugged his chemistry book out of his backpack, grabbing the novel he was reading and a highlighter as well. He glanced up at the clock over the chalkboard in the front of the room and noted that there was still 4 minutes until class officially started. He quickly opened his textbook to the appropriate page, opening the notebook he carried and calculated the current stardate, writing it in the upper left hand corner, and then, finally, flipped open his novel to the gently creased page he was reading from last class period.

Life passed him, though he never noticed, as his world was enveloped by grander adventures than he could conceive in a classroom on his own, filled with distressed damsels who picked themselves up and men who wept because they could not save their father. All for four minutes, so short a time to be lost in life and found in fantasy. Then the teacher spoke.

"If you haven't already, open your textbooks to page 127 and get your notebooks out. We're going to learn about Heat of Formation for the next couple days. Take note, in your planners, that there will be a test on Friday, with make up tests Tuesday before and after school as well as Wednesday after school." The teacher ignored the class' almost collective groan of dismay and turned to the chalkboard, writing down the first set of notes with a quick, sure hand.

"Hey Addie." Came a voice from behind Adrian. Peter Hale.

"What is it now, you carcass fit for hounds?" Peter snorted, and Adrian ignored him, copying the notes from the board with his right hand, his left thumb nestled between the pages of the novel where he had left off.

"Do you have the notes from last week's lecture, oh powerful one?"

"Of course I do, Peter, because I was here, in class, while you were out gallivanting across the countryside."

"Aw, you know I wasn't gallivanting, I was-"

"You were what. Peter. Talking to that-" Adrian stopped with a surprised gasp as a piece of chalk bounced from his forehead to his desk.

"HARRIS. HALE." The teacher walked over to them, hands crossed over the chest defensively. "Would you two like to share something with the class?" Adrian turned to glare at Peter, a bitter 'No.' released unpleasantly from pursed lips.

"Only that Hab SoSLI' Quch." Your Mother has a smooth forehead. Pursed lips smiled briefly, a faint pleased flush rising on the back of Adrian's neck.

"Don't...use that...language with me, Mr. Hale. I will have none of your-" The teacher searched for anything that could describe what the unknown phrase was.

"Klingon." Adrian helpfully pointed out, smirking and attempting to look at Peter through the corner of his eye, ignoring the echoing cough of *nerds* and *faggot* echo across the room.

"I think it's time for both of you to grow up a little, don't you Mr. Harris? There will also be a partnered lab on Wednesday, with your findings due, with conclusions, on Friday before the test." The teacher turned back to the class. "Everyone else's will be due Tuesday. Pick your partners now so that you can work on the initial equations together. You can find them in the appendix in the back of your books." The teacher finished writing the notes on the board in silence.

=====================

Everyone knew that Peter Hale was the star of the basketball team, and that the reputation of his recently graduated elder sister gave him the allowance of not having the reputation of nerd as well. Everyone also knew that if someone were to pick on Adrian Harris and that someone were to get caught, then hell would rise in the form of Peter, and he would cut you. No one knew how, but he would.

====================  
November, 1994

Peter watched Adrian from the court. He ran laps while Adrian turned pages, keeping his heart rate low simply by listening to Adrian breathe. Nothing mattered but the soft beating of Adrian's heart, rising in tempo as the rustle of each page turn reached Peter's ears. Peter could practically read along as Adrian mumbled the words, paying no heed to the mass of sweaty boys below him, enraptured in a world far higher than the steep slope of the bleachers.

"HALE!" Assistant Coach Finstock yelled from the sidelines. "We've finished this hours ago! Stop Staring at PRINCESS LUKE OVER THERE and get your ASS over HERE."

Peter jogged over to the rest of the team, pretending to be as exhausted as the rest of them as he leaned over and placed his hands on his thighs. Coach beckoned them over to huddle up, beginning to speak as soon as all were gathered within the confines of sweat and too much body heat. "Alright team, you all know this is my first year pretending to coach now that your regular went off on that vacation to Dunn's River, and we need to keep it that way, pretending. Because Basketball sucks. I hate it. Lacrosse Season is coming up and I need people. So you" he pointed at everyone, making uncomfortably close eye-contact with some, "are going to get me those people. You are going to make this sport popular or so help me God, I will find a way to fail you out of your classes." The awkward laugh that followed persisted long enough for Adrian to glance up from his book, then admire the asses within view and return to reading again.

"You don't teach anything Finstock."

"Shut up Hale. I have connections, very high connections. I didn't get to be Assistant Coach because I sacrificed one of my Testicles, no. I had Connections. Still have Connections. Will continue to have Connections long enough for all of you to play Lacrosse. Capiche?" The mumbled 'yes coach' seemed to be enough confirmation, the rolling eyes aside. "Good, get back to...running drills or whatever. Dribble the ball or something. I really don't care, just make sure that we have a starting line up for the game on Friday. I'm going to go head back to the office and order some gear. Don't break any school rules while I'm gone or I'll ring your asses. Got it?"

The team dispersed to their respective friends and girlfriends in other corners of the gym while Peter took his time walking up to Adrian. It was a good sign that he was in his usual spot, it meant he wasn't nearly as mad as he could've been, but Adrian was also a firm believer in routine, the consistency and normalcy of everyday life making it easier to escape into a novel.

Sometimes Peter wished that he could escape into a book instead of sports. It'd be so much easier to slay a dragon with all of the resources available than play against a team of five and lose because he had to keep up appearances.

Life would be so much easier without appearances.

"Hey Addie." Peter collapsed onto the bleachers next to Adrian. The rest of the team awkwardly playing a couple of 2 on 2 games with the basketball hoops hanging down from the ceiling.

"Peter."

"Can you get away from your parents tonight?"

"I don't understand why I have to get away from my parents, Peter. They function quite normally from my understanding, maybe you should try it out sometime."

"You know my family has a-"

"Certain time of the month?" Adrian hadn't even lifted his head from the book, and if Peter couldn't hear his heartbeat he wouldn't be able to tell how affected Adrian was.

"I was gonna say special needs problem, but sure, Certain Time of the Month works fine too."

"We were going to do a raid."

"I know."

"You can't just step out of our guild like that, Peter."

"I know."

"You're the game master, it's not allowed."

"I know."

"You have failed me for the last time, Peter."

"If you drop an 'I love you' on me I'm gonna cry." Peter nudged Adrian with his shoulder, enjoying the feeling of the scratchy and oversized sweater on his overheated skin for only a moment too long. His skin was overheated, no need for excess sweater touching. Adrian nudged him back, grinning slightly, but he saw the glares from the rest of the basketball team, and began packing up his things.

"Only if you're dipped in carbonite and I think you're going to die. Otherwise...no, and you can't copy my chem. notes." With that he was gone, skipping down the bleachers in a manner that every high-schooler knew to ensure the lack of tripping and falling.

"We're still partners for the lab, right?" Peter called down to him, a grin stretching to his eyes.

"Aiight, but you gotta remember to come over tonight, and you're paying for Star Trek next week." Adrian returned, walking backwards out of the gym, his glasses falling down his nose with each step. Peter's grin widened as Adrian left, being able to hear the happy sigh that was supposedly out of earshot was the bomb. He wasn't leaving reality for any world.

===============  
November 1994

"What happened to your arms?"

"Hm?" Adrian looked over to Peter, who was browsing the comics that Adrian had received as a birthday gift a few months prior from an estranged uncle.

"Your arms, Addie." Adrian glanced down and noticed the bruises, conveniently missing the flash of gold in Peter's eye as he stepped forward.

"Oh! Right." The easy dismissal shouldn't have bothered Peter. It did. "The running back got a little rough during lunch today when he noticed I brought some of my Spock costume to work on."

"He shouldn't have done that." Peter grasped Adrian's wrist, stroking the bruise softly with his thumb, taking as large amount of pain away as he could without being noticed.

"Well, we're freakin' nerds, Peter. What am I supposed to do? You know I'd rather...anything...than join a sport."

"I'll take care of it."

"Don't you dare Peter. Don't you fu-" Adrian glanced at the door, keeping an ear out for his parents who were due at any moment to tell them that dinner was ready. "freakin' dare. He's just a stupid jock anyway. We'll have forgotten all about by the time we see 'Generations' and everything will be fine. Don't...fuck...school up for us now. Only two years left and then we can leave. We can grow up and go to college and show those...cromagnon neanderthals who's the winner in our little game called life."

"That's wonderful and all, but you do know that the cromagnon man and the neaderthal man are two-"

"Einstein said that imagination was more important than knowledge, and let's face it. Any of those jocks wouldn't know the difference and it sounded far smarter than any insults their tiny little...pedestrian minds could conceive." Peter's thumb stopped stroking Adrian's wrist and moved to entwine their fingers, clasping Adrian's hand gently in Peter's own and bringing it to his mouth. He pressed the fingers gently to his lips and held them closely, a wry smirk causing Adrian's eyes to dance.

"I've been told that I have the cool sexual prowess of a Romulan."

Adrian grinned and leaned his head forward, whispering against Peter's lips. "Well you certainly didn't hear it from me."

"Saucy." Peter grinned, brushing his lips against Adrian's and enjoying the pulse of a skipped heartbeat.

====================  
August 1996

"OMG ADDIE."

"No. Stop it. This is way bad."

"Come on! I know you want to."

"No. Stop. I'm not doing it. My parents will freak."

"They don't have to know."

"How are they not going to know? Huh? Explain that one to me oh wise one."

"Well...we're going to college in a month right?"

"Right."

"Same one even."

"Of course. We did this on purpose."

"I was wondering if...since my parents rented me an apartment and everything...if..."

"Holy shit."

"Is that a yes?"

"Hella yes. Why didn't we think of this before?"

"I never asked you."

===================


	2. Chapter 2

AN : There are many (not really) movies in the chapter. Here they are in order, so that the dialogue makes more sense as you read it. The Labyrinth (only mentioned) SW Ep 1: the Phantom Menace (1997, mentioned-was not released at this point, but they know it exists because that's what nerds do for years in advance, anticipate). The Matrix (April 1999)  
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (May 1999)  
X-Men (July 2000)  
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (December 2001) Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (December 2002, note that it is not explicitly stated that this is what they are seeing, it is just a reference to Sauron, but I picture this scene taking place in the line to get into the theater) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (June 2004)  
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (July 2005)

Chapter Two

September, 1996

"Holy shit I love the internet."

"Shut up Addie. I'm trying to sleep."

"No. Seriously. I'm so glad we saved up money for this. This is my life. I'm never going back."

"There's nothing to do on the internet. Come back to bed."

"Do you mean bed as in sleep Mr. Hale?"

"No. I mean 'bed' as in 'let me fuck your brains out'. Of course I mean sleep dumbass."

"Perchance it is your bed of lies."

"OMG. Stop. College has ruined you."

"Even you can't deny the quality of that double entendre, Peter. It was grade A."

"Stop it. No more. I'm not cooking for you."

"You haven't cooked for me since we got here."

"It's been like, a day. I'll cook for you eventually."

After much dialogue and witty report, it was soon two in the morning, and Adrian could stay awake no longer, for the two websites he knew existed and had the url's for had no new information on them yet, and he was getting very tired. Peter and Adrian slept soundly that night, wrapt in each other's arms for the first time since they had known the other. Being the first time they had experienced such a thing, they awoke the next morning with a very...fortunate circumstance, for it left them at the dawning of a new era in their lives.

"Mm. Peter." Adrian groaned deeply, pressing back against the warm body that held him, pressing his ass tightly against the hips of his very-long-term-boyfriend and arching his back against the chest that held him.

"Adrian." Peter growled lowly, gold flashing to his eyes as the muscles in his thighs tensed and his arms wrapped around Adrian's torso, pulling Adrian as tightly to him as he could. "If you don't stop, I don't know what will happen."

"It's been five freaking years Peter. We're not living in our parent's houses, we've finally got...our own apartment. We're in fucking college Peter." Adrian turned in Peter's arms to face him, wrapping their legs together and bringing one of his arms up to hold Peter's jaw. "There is literally no better time for this. I've got a hard on the size of Alderaan and I know that yours is too big to be a moon, so..."

"I've been holding out for a reason though, Addie. We haven't had sex yet for reasons, and it's not because I haven't found a car with a big enough back seat."

"I so knew that."

"I'm a werewolf Addie."

"Also knew that."

"I'm technically a very dangerous mythical creature and you're 'I knew that'-ing me? What the Hell?"

"I didn't get into LARP-ing because I liked it dumbass. I don't know how many times you blew me off on the full moon, and that wasn't innuendo-stop snickering. Your entire family just shuts down over the full moon. I didn't need proof for this one. Just information. Einstein said that-"

"Imagination blah, blah, blah. Yes. I know. Smart Addie. You could've told me this...a forever ago."

"Peter, I'm sorry to say this, but my will is as strong as yours, and my kingdom as great, and you have no power over my decision to tell you that I knew you were a werewolf. This is stupid. You should've told me years ago when you explained your family's monthly crisis. Now either I'm going to fuck you, or your going to fuck me, or we're going to fuck each other, but there is going to be some serious fucking going on because I can't take not having sex with my boyfriend anymore."

"Well apparently your will isn't as -"

"Peter."

"Right."

November, 1997

"No Derek. You're going to see Star Wars with me if it kills you. You'll be the most adorable little ewok ever. We won't even have to buy a costume, you can just come with me in your wolf-form and Uncle Peter will never have to know and it'll be great." The joys of babysitting cubs when every, single, other adult leaves to go shopping for Thanksgiving.

"I'll be ten Addie. I don't wanna be a ewok. I wanna be Han Solo." He only had a year and a half to win Derek over. Maybe Laura would come, She'd make the most adorable little Padme ever, if spoilers were anything to go by, with her hair all tied up in buns and just...He had to remember she would be fifteen and hate him then.

"I'm glad you know how to add. What else has school taught you?" Derek had obviously learned his mad glaring capabilities from his mother. Mr. Hale never looked so angry. "Han Solo won't be in these movies. It's a prequel movie. Han would be like...two."

"I don't care. I'm not going then." He had time. Adrian Harris always wins battles with children.

April,1999

"I have seen the light Peter. Werewolves are simply a manifestation of the Matrix, induced to keep those who have a mind more apt to see past the barriers of an obsolete world on repeat, stuck within the realm of fantasy and kept complacent."

"I love it when you talk dirty to me."  
=========================

Adrian like to collect books. Any books. Books with plot lines, books with dragons, rare books, new books, biographies, philosophies, math books, and business books. He collected books. "Imagination is key." He would say to Peter as he recycled his books, never getting rid of the stories of his childhood, or the books that Peter kept as family heirlooms.

Many books passed through the household of Harris and Hale, but thirty of them always remained.

May, 1999

"I think I'm gonna die. All of these costume choices are horrible. Did you see that Mon Mothma maybe four people ahead of us? Not her color. That dye-job was horrible."

"Shut up Peter. Let me bask in the ability to look better than these pedestrians."

"I thought we were supposed to look out for pedestrians."

"Pedestrian is another word for plebeian Derek. I thought they were teaching you things in school."

"What Adrian means to say, is that pedestrian is used in reference to the every-man, the man on the street, the average-joe."

"I don't think your nephew understands your idioms."

"I think this is a midnight premiere and he isn't used to staying up past 10."

Later that Night, May, 1999

"Peter?"

"Yes Addie?"

They then began to talk of things, such as the amazing quality of the lightsabres, how adorable Obi-wan was, and how they were never going to watch that movie again for any reason, other than to watch Darth Maul get sliced in half.  
======================

Peter likes to watch 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'. He likes to think that research into the fantastical realm of the supernatural is literally as easy as translating some books. He likes to think that he is Spike to Adrian's Buffy, except it ends up being more along the lines of Druscilla to Adrian's Spike, and he doesn't like to think about that.

Adrian likes to think that he is Giles to Peter's Every Other Character in Existence. And then he sees Wesley and falls a little in love and actually starts wearing suits, and convinces Peter to start wearing leather.

The relationship is working out very well, as Peter is actually a werewolf and they can actually find old books to translate, with spells so old they feel heavy in their hands, and they can actually have sex that should be impossible, but Peter is a werewolf, and Adrian had never been more turned on.

======================  
July, 2000

"I'm never seeing a Marvel movie again. I hate the X men, why did we do this? Those suits were better than their comic-counterparts, sure, but the blackbird? And Magneto? There was no Purple and Pink. I wanted that. It would've been great. There was little to no subtext between Xavier and Magneto and don't they realize that I am their demographic? What is wrong with this picture? and yeah, Picard, but STILL."

"Can you pretend to be Wolverine, for one second. I'll be Cyclops and you can fuck me, and it'll be awesome."

Adrian loves being part of the pack. He loves belonging somewhere other than the student-teacher lounge. He loves being able to cuddle up with Peter during meetings and have no one look at them like they're strange, because they're mates, and Peter's parents will kick anyone out of the pack if they make a fuss, and that's the best fucking thing in the world.

This doesn't stop him from getting sarcastic to the pack, and Peter just encourages it, which probably isn't good, because Derek is becoming more like Peter everyday and God, Adrian never wants kids.

There are too many in the Hale house as it is. Not to say that Laura isn't adorable, and Alpha isn't old enough to hold his own, but seriously. Children. And people used to make fun of him for still reading comics and liking fantasy novels and being a trekker. Which, you know, fine, it's not like he ever fit in as a trekker anyway because he liked Star Wars too, but that was what Peter was for.

December 2001

"I've never been more happy in my life, than this moment. Right now." Peter mused as the theatre shook with the steps of the horses, the sound of drums filling the air with each moment of tension. Peter sank lower in his seat as Adrian tried to take him further into his mouth. "Seriously. I love you so much."

Adrian released his cock with a soft pop. "This is never happening again."

"I thought this was gonna be our thing. You know, go to the movies on Christmas when no ones around. Make out in the back row, exchange blow jobs."

"I have seen no equal and opposite exchange Mr. Hale, and this floor is fucking sticky, so you'd better respect me when this movie is over."

"I respect you right now." Heavy breathing filled the theater as they stared into each other's eyes, communicating solely through twists of eyebrows and flashing of tongue.

"You are so lucky I've already seen this four times." Adrian said before he licked the head of Peter's cock, suckling it slightly after a moment, and then attempting to take the whole thing in his mouth again.

"Just...wait until we get to one of the walking scenes okay? I'll reciprocate then, I swear."

Peter likes the fact that with every midnight premiere he goes to the lines get longer, the costumes more extreme, the younger audiences mixing with his generation, because that means there's a better future for kids like Adrian and him, who got the short end of the stick for collecting figures and making costumes and enjoying something that wasn't theirs, and maybe a comic store will pop up in Beacon Hills over the next decade and he can finally buy comics without having to subscribe to everything.

He's glad the Internet has finally caught on, and gaming isn't just for those who know how to use a computer, or ridiculously rich, and animation has only gotten better in the past couple years, and the scenery in the Lord of the Rings was mind blowing and he wants to go to New Zealand so badly and just...run around with Adrian and roll in the grass and go to Hobbiton and LARP again.

Two weeks later He and Adrian pull their old wizarding cloaks out of the back closet and make pins for them, and braces for their arms, and they make comments about how Peter must've never grown up because his still reaches the floor while Adrian's hit his knees.

Then they switch cloaks and find out that Peter was just really bad at sewing once-upon-a-time.

December, 2002

"I know we can't get married, but I figured...if Sauron can see it."

"Holy Shit."

"Is that a yes?"

"Hella yes, more than. Peter, fuck."

"I love it when you're speechless."

"That's because it usually means your dick is in my mouth."

"Stop being so vulgar, there are children in this line."

Peter and Adrian never noticed the six year old brunette who looked at them with awe. Her little heart skipped a beat as she saw Aragorn propose to Legolas, and it was this memory that brought her through the coming year, not because she fell asleep midway through, and would thusly never remember seeing the whole thing, but she found out what it was like to be ridiculed at school that year, as her first, public, attack of epilepsy occurred.  
=========================

June, 2004

"Isn't it a little late to be starting on Harry Potter?"

"Derek loves the books, and this is his favorite, it's got werewolves in it."

"How do you know Derek loves them?"

"We talk."

"You talk, to my nephew."

"It's not like you do."

"I do, too."

"Then you would know that this is his favorite."

It turns out that not only is Harry Potter not Derek's favorite, but that he's got a date, and can't be bothered to entertain Uncle Peter and Adrian tonight, because 'seriously, I'm like, 15, I don't need to watch Harry Potter. That's for kids.'

"The cloaks were cool."

"I could be Snape if you want." Adrian points out. "I learned how to glare from Derek."

"I don't want to indulge in your urges for bestiality tonight, dear friend."

"Are you sure?"

June, 2005

"I love you."

"What brought this on?"

"I need to go out of town for a couple of days."

"Can I go with you?"

"I think...it'd be better if you didn't."

Adrian goes to a bar and meets a pretty girl, she's the first one that he's met that actually seems interested in chemistry, because there is no doubt in his mind that Peter is interested in him, and his likes, and his mind, and his hobbies, but it's never been about his passion before, and apparently he gets petty when he's drunk, because Adrian notices her necklace and how it reminds him of old afternoons spent in basements with handmade cloaks draped over shoulders and missed meetings and copied chemistry homework.

So he wows her.

She asks all the right questions, and he knows just the chemicals to make that one explosive in that one movie, if that explosion were real anyway, and there. She's gone. Adrian wakes with a hangover and no regrets, because Peter will be back tomorrow.

June, 2005

Peter isn't back.

July, 2005

Adrian tries to go see the last Star Wars movie.

Peter is in a coma.

Adrian leaves midway through. It's one in the morning and he can't stop crying.

The Sheriff takes him home.

He doesn't leave their apartment for days. Adrian curls up on Peter's side of the bed and stares at the moon.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: This is probably the angstiest bit, there will be fluff to follow. As well as a sequel (more than likely anyway). As always, read and review if it's worth one.

* * *

September 2005

Adrian has been a full-time teacher for two years now, and he thought he could handle manipulating the lives of children before this. Now all he sees is desolate futures and a mate who won't wake up and he just wants to go home. He doesn't throw himself into his work. He doesn't imagine what could've made a difference.

He reads every healing spell he can get his hands on. He doesn't try them out though, because if there is one thing he has learned through gaming and living with Peter, it is that everything comes with a price.

He tries to go see 'Serenity'. Peter always liked Joss. He can't. He leaves before he can even buy the ticket. It doesn't matter that Firefly was cancelled too early and that he needs to see it because it has everybody in it and he needs to show his support. Peter isn't there. It isn't worth it. Not without Peter.

Adrian spends an entire week where he just sits in the apartment and stares at the old costumes and the figurines and hand-carved chess sets and their first dvd and the vhs tapes that they will never use again and he can't bear to get rid of anything.

Peter is going to wake up. He knows it.

December 2005

Peter hasn't woken up. The doctors aren't very optimistic. They've moved him into a stasis chamber.

At least that's what it sounds like.

'Brokeback Mountain' is the last movie that Adrian tries to see before he just stops. Sometimes he talks to Laura and Derek. They split the costs of the room. He doesn't need any money until Peter is back anyway.

He wants to follow Laura and Derek to New York. He feels responsible, like he's their last family. Except he's not, and Peter's here, and it hurts to think about leaving him behind.

He goes with them over winter break. Kissing Peter's knuckles goodbye for a time. Adrian helps them move into a small apartment off of Time's Square. He's almost jealous, because he wants to run with them too, but he goes back, and lays on the hospital bed next to Peter and refuses to run until Peter is there to run with him.

January, 2006

It takes until the new year with new resolutions that a revelation comes. There are no girls waiting after class to flirt. The students are quiet in his classroom. All homework is turned in on time. Coach Finstock hasn't hassled him for weeks and the other science teachers have finally learned that he doesn't want to talk about their petty existences.

It's the best school year of his life.

It's also the first in which his addiction to work has overshadowed everything else. He doesn't leave Peter's room on the weekends, but he never leaves his desk during the week. Their bed is covered in cheap beer cans and bottles of jack.

He can't stand to look at the bedspread, or the raggedy couch, or the television with the vcr/dvd player and the dreamcast hooked up to it still, with Sonic the Hedgehog not touched since June last year.

Life stops for two years. He teaches. He visits Peter. Adrian drinks.

June, 2008

Adrian goes to see 'Wanted'.

He never knew how awkward it was to go to movies alone. He sits through the whole thing, it's not a midnight premiere, not yet, but he's proud of himself.

He can't sit in the back row, and it's theater number 8, the last theater he'd been in with Peter, so it feels like the memories are too fresh, except the seats have been replaced and they have cup holders and apparently people can see things in 3-D now, which makes no sense, because everything is in 3-D, it's just that we recognize movies as 2-D, and even when movies are 3-D they still are 2-D, it's just a changing of perception.

The fake-physics was amusing, but he consoles himself with 'imagination' and moves on. What the fuck has he done lately? Nothing. He hasn't even tried, maybe it's time to dig out those old spell books, hell, maybe it's time to dig out the old DnD books and the Starship Trooper handguides and Adrian spends the next two months reintroducing himself to old friends and dear enemies and fantasies and realities and escapes and finally takes the time to grieve.

He also drinks his way through the emotional pain so that the hangover doesn't feel nearly so bad the next afternoon.

July 2008

Adrian spends every spare dollar buying the movies he missed out on, and learning the ways of an internet that he is unfamiliar with and sharing every single moment with Peter that he can.

"I watched the Bourne trilogy. You would like it, I think. It's about spies, it's based off a book and you know how much I love books."

"You need to watch 'Transformers' with me, Peter. I died. I think I had an orgasm just from the giant fucking robots, and no, that wasn't innuendo or sexual implied anything."

"I hate parody movies. They're fucking stupid. Never let me do that again."

"I can't tell whether or not Spiderman was good. Which I suppose means that it sucked, but Spidey was always your favorite right? I think I just don't like Super hero movies. I watched Batman Begins. It was epic, but the growling? Not so much. There has to be some werewolves in Hollywood somewhere to fix that shit. I am not putting up with that when they make another, and they need to, because I think I fell in love with the Scarecrow."

"Those Pirates movies finally ended. Thank god. I don't know if I could take anymore fake historical awesomeness. I practically had to be drunk to sit through the second one."

"Ghost Rider happened. I don't even know what to say. Cage should've stopped acting after Face/Off. I love that movie. We should watch it again when you wake up."

August 2008

"Apparently 'Shrek' is a thing now."

"Jet Li is my God. You have been replaced."

"Hugh Grant is adorable. I don't know why I never knew this."

"His movies suck though."

"Frank Oz is the Devil. He sucked my soul out and I can't even tell you how he did it until you watch 'Death at a Funeral' with me and wonder why Yoda can write something so amazing."

"I bought all the Star Trek movies, and Revenge of the Sith. I'm going to wait until you can watch them with me. I don't think that my witty commentary will be heard unless you're around, and I'm refusing to put a television in here because I don't want it to be that...thing...as the first thing you see when you open your eyes again."

November, 2008

Adrian gently strokes the scarred half of Peter's face for the first time on November 14th of 2006. It hadn't completely healed yet, the burns were so deep and the scarring so extensive.

He touches it again now, with his head resting on Peter's chest, watching as the reflexive muscles in Peter's face react to the slightest brush of his fingertips, wondering how this is possible if Peter won't wake up.

He knows there must be pain, even in sleep, because the nurses have a low dose of morphine running through Peter's system constantly. He isn't sure why. He knows that Peter must not be able to feel it anyway, but he allows them to keep it running, in case Peter does wake up, and he doesn't want those first thoughts to be of pain, and he can grant Peter morphine if Peter can forgive him alcohol.

Adrian lifts his head and brushes tear stained lips against both corners of Peter's mouth, imagining the gentle pressure of a kiss returned.

"There's going to be so much for you to catch up on." He mumbles against Peter's neck. "You're going to have to help me with my drinking problem. I can't seem to stay sober when I start thinking about you." Adrian shuffles around on the bed so that his weight isn't entirely on Peter anymore, but it's a tight fit. There's no reason for a comatose patient to have a bed bigger than a twin.

"I got a new pair of glasses. I think you'll like them. I continue to buy you shoes. I don't entirely know why, I just...I'm up to six pairs now. I've been giving the oldest ones to good will. That's a thing now too. Also I've picked up highschool lingo. Which sucks. Nothing is 'choice' anymore. Everyone's all 'like so, and like this, and facebook!'. I don't think I like facebook. It's ruined the masses, at least...before they could speak in complete sentences, and if they couldn't, there was a logical progression of thought behind it."

Adrian can't feel Peter's grin, but he's grinning.

February 2009

"There's a new Star Trek film coming out this year. I think I'm going to die from either the epic fail that will be a reboot or from happiness at seeing a young Spock again." Adrian says, ignoring the nurse who checks briefly on the drips spinning their way into Peter's body, and sits down on the chair next to the bed. "I'm going to wait for you, of course, but I'm going to look at every spoiler my hands can get on, and I will probably have seen half of the movie simply because of all the information I have. Be jealous Peter, be jealous." Adrian moved to grasp Peter's fingers, bringing them to his mouth and kissing the knuckles, leaving them pressed to his mouth.

"I hope you know that I've been celibate for almost 4 years now. You should fucking wake up. If there was any reason to wake up, it would be sex, Peter."

Adrian leaves after an hour of simply reading a book aloud. Leaving two flowers in a vase on the table.

Peter wants to get up and follow him, but his body is still far too weak, and he knows that if he doesn't allow his body time to recuperate then he might be stuck in an even worse fashion. So he waits.

September 2009

Adrian runs into the room, early afternoon, on a weekday, and simply sobs into Peter's chest. There is no comfort until he gets a call from Laura saying that they're all right, everything's fine, no need to worry, no one was hurt. They weren't even on that side of New York.

Adrian still sobs, but this time his tears are of relief. There's no way he could've handled losing what little family he had left.

Peter doesn't find out what the matter was until the next day, when Adrian calmly walks into the room and curls up against his side, explaining in words that are as bitter as the first tears after the fire.

September 2010

Peter waits long enough to Hate the Argents with every fiber that his being has, because they didn't just kill his family, they took them away, and he doesn't have enough power to do Anything. Adrian is alone.

The first time he opens his eyes is on September 3rd, 2010, and what Peter doesn't know, is that it is the first day of school, and Adrian is so exhausted that he fell asleep on the chair next to him. Peter can only look up at the ceiling, but he can hear Adrian's heart beating, and that is enough.

September 2011

Stillinski's kid is in his chemistry class this year, and it's not to say that he isn't grateful for that one night however many years ago, but Stillinski could never solve the Hale fire, and the police and the fire department and everyone didn't react fast enough, and it was almost days before anyone told him with any certainty what happened. He can't blame Laura, because she was taking care of Derek, and he can't begrudge them the support that losing your entire family needs, but they didn't know that he wasn't in the fire, and not once did this knowledge make it hurt any less.

September 2011

Laura's dead and he's a mess. Stillinski's kid has something to do with it, and he knows it. He's heard Stillinski and McCall talking loudly about werewolves and Alphas, and there's an Argent in his classroom and he knows he's heard that name before and Derek is in town and they haven't met up for anything other than burying the part of the body they had.

He knows that Derek has been in to see Peter at least twice though, and he is happy with this, more than okay with this, and definitely more than okay with not having to be the strong shoulder that Derek might need because if anyone knows how talking to a comatose man is cathartic it's Adrian. It doesn't stop life from being bitter, but he doesn't need to drink nearly as often now.

Even if the "animal attacks" are getting more frequent and he can't figure out why.

He hates knowing that werewolves exist. He hates knowing that other things could too, except he knows nothing about how to stop them and does it even matter if Peter never wakes up to watch him?

October 2011

He makes eye contact with Derek on parent-teacher night. There's literally a wild cougar, and he knows that Derek is just here because Pack Knows when things are bad, and it's comforting, knowing he still counts as pack.

His petty side feels vindicated when Sheriff Stillinski gets hurt. He has no one else to blame and it feels good.

December 2011

Peter is missing. Gone. He wasn't, fucking, there. Derek won't answer his calls. Stillinski looks bruised in class and McCall is acting even stranger. Whittmore seems high all the time and there was a murderer in the school a few nights ago.

It's not Derek. Derek wouldn't do that.

He can feel it when Peter dies. His heart feels like it's been sliced to shreds and his throat locks up so tightly that he can't breath. He stumbles blindly over to the bed and can't even cry because it feels like his life has been torn out of his chest.

It's hours later when he opens his eyes again and almost thinks of the resurrection spell from Buffy, except he doesn't want to tear Peter from heaven, if such a place exists for werewolves.

He wants to die.

Except he knows that Peter would have wanted him to at least have watched all the movies he couldn't watch first, so that he can tell Peter about it later, so he's going to wait.

He drowns himself in alcohol that night, figuratively.

"Addie?" Derek stalks into the tiny apartment a day later, his eyes flashing red as he smells grief in drowned sorrows.

"Derek."

"Will you be all right?"

"Never."

They sit in silence for hours, leaning on each other and not crying. Derek doesn't comment on how the apartment hasn't changed in 7 years, but he grabs the ill-made cloak with the leaf clasp and the arm brace, putting the cloak over Adrian's shoulders and shifting.

Adrian shouldn't be surprised that Derek is an alpha now, the entire family is gone, but he can't help but wonder if the role ever switched to Peter while he was in the coma, and he feels pity for Derek for a second, wondering what it must be like to live without an alpha.

Derek's hair is longer now, in his shifted form, and he pets it as Derek rests his head in Adrian's lap, both of them soaking up the feeling of Peter as he was years ago, young and living and vivid.

They bury him underneath the old house. Adrian doesn't ask why the body is so mangled, or why the burns cover both sides of his face, or how Derek found the body at all. He'd rather live with what happy memories he has.


End file.
